Nadezhda Kunicina

Research-based approach application for electrical engineering education of bachelor program students in Riga Technical University

Research based approach in education is important for engineering specialties. The implementation of this approach is interesting for students also. The research possibilities involve all level of education process: pupils interest is higher, average mark of students is increasing; the number of graduate students is increasing with introduction of research-based approach.

The case study of acquisition of transferable skills by electrical engineers

The acquisition of transferable skills, such as IRP management, project management, human resource management and etc. is extremely important. Besides the possibility to have additional free choice subjects in the traditional frame of study program, the Project based learning methodology application in the study program is discussed in this article. Lifelong learning educations, additional training offered by the university, as well as introduction of ICT tools are also discussed.

Voluntary education standardization in a frame of joint study programs

The extension of mobility opportunities foreseen in Erasmus plus from European to the international education community has to be supported by standards in the similar study programs. The best practice of curricula voluntary standardization gained during Tempus project implementation in EU and non-EU countries consortia is described. The benefits from extension of novel voluntary standardization approach from one particular project to ordinary practice are analyzed.

Establishing regional competence centre for life long learning in electrical engineering

The rapid technology development in the electrical engineering requires to promote life long learning concept in practice. The industrial needs and future carrier perspectives are not limited to the college or university degree for electrical engineers. The sharing of advanced research results, the development IT platform for education allows to achieve sufficient methodological base for engineers training at all stages of career. The case study of the Institute of Industrial Electronics and Electrical Engineering (IEEI) of Riga Technical University is discussed in this paper.

Wireless sensor networks for optimumisation of district heating

The upgrading of the DH system through installing wireless sensor networks (WSN) - a technology by which to monitor and control quality operation of the DH system - will lead to more effective use of thermal energy, enabling also the provision of quality customer services, as the data concerning the status of the existing networks is available in a timely manner, and in the stated amounts. Over the last decades the use of WSN systems in enabling quality monitoring of heat production and supply process has been widely discussed among various researchers and industry experts, but has been little deployed in practice. These researchers and industry experts have analysed the advantages and constraints related to the use of the WSN in district heating. A pilot project conducted by Riga Heat (the main heating supplier in Riga, Latvia) has allowed to gain a real life experience as to the use of the WSN system in district in-house heating substations, and is deemed to be a major step towards future development of WSN technologies.

Towards of E-Learning Quality Standards for Electrical Engineers

The application of e – learning approach for electrical engineers could be beneficial for all types of graduates. The specific models of 3D virtual laboratories are proposed as a pre standard tool for e-learning of electrical engineers. Effective integration of 3D virtual laboratories into education process will bring benefits to higher education, as for vocational as for standard academic programs. The simple embedding of 3D virtual laboratories in education and training systems will make high quality trainings possible from distance for university branches as well. The common education programs and courses, developed in cooperation with several partners are the steps forward to international education programs as well as quality standards of e-learning for electrical engineers. The same tool will bring benefits in education of experienced engineers it terms of lifelong learning education concept. The application of Project-based learning methodology is widely used in specific education courses in Riga Technical University study program of “control of electrical technologies”. The application of “Kolb’s experiential learning theory” represents sufficiently the educational cycle for case of synthesis of new technology.

Vehicle weight detection sensor development for data collecting in sustainable city transport system

The technical solution for smart city concept is offered in the article. The IoT supporting new generation of control concept is developed for smart city paradigm. The offered unified wireless data transmitting concept is deployed as wireless transport vehicles weight control tool. The integrated weight sensor is developed and demonstrated in this article. The offered sensor is integrated in IoT paradigm, and aimed to obtain data from primary source and transfer it to Intelligent Transport System (ITS) in order to use those data for transport flow modeling. The data transferred to ITS will be used acquired used elements of offered the system: sensing technologies, data transferring, simulation of traffic flows and decision making. The developed solution is compatible with IoT on-line traffic management system and next generation of smart city control system.

Evaluation of market needs in Belarus for improvement of master-level education in the field of physical sciences

The article presents a case study of experience sharing between the EU universities and the EU neighborhood area - Belarus. The aim of this study is to facilitate the Bologna process joining by the Belarusian higher education system and, in particular, to consider challenges related to the labor market in the field of physics specialties due to upcoming changes in the qualification of university graduates. Before joining the Bologna process, the Ministry of Education has set the proportions of 5- and 6-year graduates specializing in physics as 90% and 10%. The enhancement of cooperation between HEI and labor market is essential to perform successful transfer to the Bologna-like 4-year higher education system. Of particular importance is the organization of master students internship and practice in order to meet the labor market needs.

Sensor networking for improving of reliability indicator by electric Power Utilities

The modern emergency situation remote localization solution was discussed. In this paper remote emergency situation localization technical solutions and showcases was described. In the theoretical background description there is description of fault localization techniques-distribution characteristics. The remote monitoring system interface program is described and detailed. There is a monitoring system interface, which is actively used by emergency localisation and positioning by system engineers and administrators. The technical solution description and analyses of functional and operation conditions are offered. The experimental part consists of the electric principal scheme of the low and medium voltage network, which is used for decision making in indicators and modems location and calculations. Moreover, there is described the equipment used for proposed solution. The next generation wireless sensor network solution was developed.

ISM transmitter density estimation for telemetry sensors in high rise apartment buildings

Constrained wireless sensor nodes in dense high rise buildings encounter negative effects from the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio band interference and collisions. A method of wireless sensor density estimation is proposed as an experiment. An experimental analysis of frequency channel structure is tested and a feasible modulation and data structure is proposed to maximize sensor node life expectancy and the upper limits of node density is estimated. The target applications of the transmitters are energy (heating, water supply infrastructure, electricity monitoring) and environment parameters - moisture, CO2, air temperature.